Gearing up for a complete over-haul (Advice?)

[emmahumpfritter]

Hello,

Newby member here. Just bought the following parts via autozone and rockauto for a hopefully successfull overhaul of one 1986 Toyota Tercel 4wd Wagon SR5 (now that's a mouthfull!!) Parts: Clutch (Duralast. Anyone know the brand?) front pads (Duralast again. Failry cheap with lifetime warranty.) Axles (Rockauto, remanufactured due to not having "new" available. Autozone is also phasing away from them, but could order me some for over a hundo a side....yikes!) Wheel bearing, all corners (Though still researching which brand to go with. Advice?) and probably a weber carb, though I was able to get the stock carb to run ALMOST perfect (200RPM fluxuation at idle)

I really like this car. It's a great addition to the family.

Here's a picture of the Tercel's 80's sibling.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40581861@N03/3768005876/

88 Wonderwagon 4wd, 5-spd, 15 inch samuari wheels, custom swing out bumper/spare, roof rack, power moon-roof (taken from a 2wd) insulated interior, Propex heater, rear airlift bags and a bunch of other stuff I'm probably forgetting. Oh, and a trap door in the floor for icefishing on frozen lakes!...

Brenton

[Petros]

I would consider a couple of up-grades along with your other repairs: Put KYB gas shocks or struts on all corners, and get the performance regrind cam shaft from Delta Cams in Tacoma WA (only $60 exchange) and it will go well with your Weber upgrade.

I highly advise to upgrade the front brakes too, get the rotors (disks) and calipers from the newer gen Tercel '92-95 (?). They are the same dia and use the same brake pad, and it should bolt up to the Tercel4wd hub, it will not affect your brake balance. You may have to swap calipers left and right to get proper brake line alignment. These disks are vented and will not warp after a long hard stop like the wimpy 11mm think solid disks.

[emmahumpfritter]

Petros, thanks for the ideas. KYB's ont eh corners does sound like an upgrade (though I might need to drive this lil bugger for a while to make sure such an investment is wise) that's also good news about the front brakes. Festivas (what I'm graduating out of) have a simular relatiohship with aspires (junk, ugly, but make grade upgrade parts cars) I'm just waiting for a few parts to roll in and getting to it.

Quick Q: would the cam upgrade influence MPG's up or down? I tend to value them above HP mods.

Thanks!
Brenton

[splatterdog]

Myself, I like doing clutches on these by pulling the engine instead of tranny. Do you want to spend 90% of your time under or over your car???

Another reason is, I like to pull the pan to check clearances on crankshaft bearings. Especially rod #3. The thrust bearings are usually worn on high mileage manual trans cars, so check endplay too. Prime time to do cam/cranks seals,waterpump,timing belt too.

Funny you have a toy van as well. Coincidentaly, the one and only time I drove a T4 in the late 80's and was bitten by the bug, I also had just driven a rwd version of your van the job before that. We had a decent snowstorm that day and I got to see the best and the worst from toyota for snow. Good tires on both .I could barely get out of the parking lot with the rwd van. My 73 mustang at the time would put it to shame. It was that bad. Then the T4 blew me away! I could barely spin the tires. I had to wait quite a while to find one in my price range for cars(few hundred max). In fact all 4 of mine so far came with a major defect(bent rear axle,terminal body cancer,engine,engine/clutch.

Not a huge fan of duralast friction. Lots of cheap import parts don't come close to OE or name brand product quality. Don't expect well over 200k out of that clutch like the OE can do. Someone else here also said they were done with the zone's reman axles. Even with the warranty and fairly easy install, it was getting old doing them at least once or twice a year.

I am also a big weber fan, if you haven't noticed. It was a bolt on 8mpg on the 84 and 3-4 on the 86 engine. With the miles the wife is putting on it, the fuel savings on the 84 payed for it's carb long ago and by now has exceeded what I paid for the car and everything I've done to it for the almost 10 years I've had it. It's like your very own cash back, paid as you drive program! The up to 100% better running is a plus too....

[Highlander]

If you haven't gotten the axles yet, you might consider the GXP axles. I had to get them ordered in special through Autozone (I think) but they were ~$85 each, and they're new, not rebuilt. Duralast is, I think, someone will correct me if I'm wrong, AutoZone's house brand of parts. I've tried the LUK clutch kits and I'm not impressed with them. At least try to get a Toy clutch cover,its worth the extra $ in my mind. I put KYB G2 struts and shocks all around on two of mine- They handle very well don't bother with the gas-a-just in the rear (I tried that). The difference is almost unnoticeable, and it'll cost ~$15 more per(plus it makes the rear dance on washboard).

[emmahumpfritter]

Hey guys, can I ask a couple more newby quick questions?

I received my rockauto axles today, and going ahead for using them knowing I might have to replace again before too long.

Autozone still hasn't ordered my clutch kit, so I would like to go a source on a Toyota factory replacement (OEM?). Can someone point me in that direction?

Also, it was mentioned that the excessive play in the shifter was most likely due to worn out linkage/bushings? Is there a kit for this fix? If so, where can I order it?

I know there's a seatch feature, but I like to get to know folks a little on the forums I join...I hope you don't mind.

Thanks,
Brenton (in Mn.)

[ARCHINSTL]

Shifter info - http://www.tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtop ... ing#p35142 - last post.
Four days ago.....
Tom M.

[blade]

well if you are in canada you can go to autopartsway.ca and you can get a lot of oem parts.

[keith]

I used a Duralast clutch kit in mine. It was fine, at 60k, the clutch plate showed almost no wear. It literally looked brand new, the textured surface was only worn on the tops of the ridges. I replaced it with an OEM when I put in the 4AC. I really was disappointed in the OEM clutch plate I got from the dealer, it turned out to be a reman and it had rubber dampers instead of springs. And it cost a lot more. The duralast comes with a clutch alignment tool.

The problem I had with the duralast was that the date of manufacture on my Tercel split the date of a change in the clutch design, the first one didn't fit. The second one fit perfectly.

Did not have good luck with Duralast brakes though. Recommend Wagner.

For axles, EMPI worked really good for me

http://replacement.car-stuff.com/parts/ ... c=true#top

[emmahumpfritter]

Thank for the shifter link. Question. Do you think these parts can still be bought?

Give Butler Toy in Indy a call at 800-692-6396. Its site, http://www.toyotaoemparts.com, is still down for maintenance.
The guys there have found parts not listed in other Toy dealers sites - or at several STL dealers' parts departments.
I got these parts back in the early Spring.
33555-16030 is $7.91---boot
33548-16010 is $3.69---bushing
33505-16010 is $10.40---seat
Tom M.

I'm going to call Indy tomorrow.

Thanks again! Glad to see this site back on line...

Brenton

[skyerunner]

Howdi folks,
I'm in about the same position, having just inherited an '83 tercel in pretty good condition. I too am wanting to give it some love and willing to learn the work myself. About the "loose shift stick" feel, does replacing those parts make it feel stiffer again? Would that maybe help my problem of the car popping out of 2nd gear when coasting downhill?
Hopefully I'll be posting a lot as I love this car!

[skyerunner]

I highly advise to upgrade the front brakes too, get the rotors (disks) and calipers from the newer gen Tercel '92-95 (?). They are the same dia and use the same brake pad, and it should bolt up to the Tercel4wd hub, it will not affect your brake balance. You may have to swap calipers left and right to get proper brake line alignment. These disks are vented and will not warp after a long hard stop like the wimpy 11mm think solid disks.

I'm looking to replace brakes too.
http://r1-concepts-inc.amazonwebstore.c ... GROCU0.htm
Found this online - photo shows 5-bolt pattern though?
Would you swap just the rotors or calipers and rotors from the new gen tercel?

[Petros]

You have to swap both the rotors and the calipers (the calipers are similar but they have more distance between the pads for the thicker rotors). You may have to convert to banjo fittings at the hose ends too, and consider longer flex hoses.

The rotors in the picture are not for the Tercel, must be a stock photo. Those should improve braking, not a bad price if that is for two. I got my front rotors from pull-a-part for only $6 each, I will consider the drilled and slotted ones if I still need more braking power.

[danzo]

I am also doing the updated brake swap, but I don't know what flex hoses to get. Does anyone have a year/model/part number? Stock '93 Terc hoses are way too long and kinda pricey. I am not comfortable using stock '86 T4wd non-banjo hoses on my '93 Terc calipers that were designed to use flex hoses. Thanks in advance.